Soldes!

Get it while it's hot, folks. Paris is on sale for two more days. Every year, beginning in January, all of France goes on one massive sale that lasts until mid-February. There are "Soldes" signs in every store window, so if you're gonna faire des courses (shop!), now's the time to do it. (Audrey's had some really unique shirts and dresses. Perhaps when mommy comes to visit, we'll go back...? Hehe.)

In addition to my gorgeous boots (which I've worn twice already), I've gotten a couple shirts, and am in the market for an across-the-body purse (so the pick pockets can't get me!). The sales end Tuesday, so some time between studying for midterms (which are Friday, which is stupid), preparing two presentations and a debate, and going to the theatre to see a plot-less play for class ("La Cantatrice Chauve" = The Bald Soprano = hey Ionesco, you suck!), I need to hit up the stores.

Ahh, the joys of spending away last summer's Park Ranger earnings.

On Friday, I went to the Musée du Vin for a dégustation course with the rest of the A-J crowd in my program. We spent probably three hours learning about wine, comparing the colors of different wines, smelling wine, writing about wine....and finally, we TASTED wine. We had five total: two reds, two whites, and a sparkling white. None of them were spectacular, but the sparkling white and the old red were the best. So far I'm liking California wine better than what the French have to offer. (Granted, I haven't forked over the cash for a really "good" bottle just yet. Pictured is an 850 EURO bottle of Cognac, which equals about a thousand American dollars. Is it really even that good??)

Last Wednesday, my Economics class took a field trip to L'Union de L'Europe Occidentale to learn about the innerworkings of the UEO. It was better than sitting in a classroom for two and a half hours. The emcee annoyed me though. He was this round little man who made jokes nonstop about President Bush. I learned something about myself during that field trip: I don't really like it when foreigners poke fun at my presidents. I don't think I took offense to the fact that it was George Bush, necessarily, because I'm not a huge fan. But I got pretty tired of that silly French man yacking on and on about the ex-Pres. We Americans can critique and criticize our presidents without outside help, thank you very much.

They absolutely love Obama over here. Everyone on the panel at the UEO talked about how they can't wait to see how Obama's new foreign policies will affect the European Union, how they're excited to see what he can do with and for them, etc. etc. They then asked us as Americans to give a short word about our outlook on the new administration. Everyone came to basically the same conclusion: Obama can't save the world. He needs to start with America. I find the expectations of the rest of the world quite interesting. I'm excited for the new president (I clapped and cheered with the rest of my campus when the election results were announced), and I think he will do a lot of good. I'm also glad that the rest of the world seems to be happy for America for once. But I think people are jumping to conclusions too quickly. I hope they aren't upset if everything doesn't come together right away.

All right. Enough about politics. Time to stop avoiding my Econ homework. Here's to partiels (midterms). Bleh.